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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28415508">A Story Of The Lives We Lived</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/alonenotlonely/pseuds/alonenotlonely'>alonenotlonely</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Sex Education (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:01:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Underage</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,948</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28415508</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/alonenotlonely/pseuds/alonenotlonely</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Life's been a dick to Charlie Haskins as of late, will a move to Moordale turn it all around?</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. There's a crowd inside, free in spirit. Nothing dazzling in appearance.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Brown eyes shot open as the opening notes of “Edge of Seventeen” disrupted the still quiet in the bedroom of one Charlie Haskins. Before she had the chance to silence her alarm, she found the room door flung open and herself being jumped on by her younger brother.</p><p>“Ooooft, Jesus Christ, Archie! I told you not to do that anymore!” She yelled, attempting to shove the wriggling 10-year-old off of her midsection but with no luck.</p><p>“Dad told me to wake you up! Can’t be late on your first day!”</p><p>“Well, I’m awake so piss off!” Just as the words left her mouth, the imposing figure of her father walked past the open bedroom door, stopping in his tracks at the curse word.</p><p>“Oi, watch your language. Archie, get off of your sister, your breakfast’s sitting out in the kitchen.”</p><p>“Sorry dad,” the siblings said in unison. Archie climbed off the bed and headed towards the kitchen, his stomach rumbling quietly as he went. Charlie finally sat up, stretching her arms and back out as she did, before getting out of bed and heading towards the family bathroom but she stopped as her father’s huge but gentle hand rested on her shoulder, making her pause and turn around to face him.</p><p>“Nervous, bud?” He asked, leaning back against the grey wall opposite Charlie.</p><p>“Nah, not really. Wish we didn’t have to move, but…” Charlie trailed off with a shrug, giving her dad a lopsided grin and getting a reassuring rub on the shoulder in return.</p><p>“I know Charls, I know. Hopefully things’ll be better here. I did some reading up on sports at Moordale, seems decent.”</p><p>“That’s a plus, I’ll look into it. Look sorry Dad, but I really have to go to the toilet – women problems y’know,” she said, laughing as her dad shot up, taking his hand off her shoulder immediately.</p><p>“Uh, yup! Y-you, you go do that! I’m going to go make your breakfast!”</p><p>“You’re the best, Dad!” Charlie shouted as she turned into the bathroom, pulling the door shut behind her. Letting out a sigh, Charlie turned to the large mirror hanging on the bathroom wall. The morning sunlight streamed in through the window as she pulled her t-shirt over her head and began her morning routine. As she finished drying her freshly washed face, she couldn’t help but pause in the mirror, her eyes scanning over her chest and stomach whilst her hands absentmindedly ran over her defined abs.</p><p>“Fucking hell,” she grumbled as her fingers skimmed over several large bruises which were nearly faded. Ugly shades of green and yellow marbled over otherwise flawless tanned skin and Charlie couldn’t help but feel her mind wandering back to the day she got the bruises but stopped when the sound of a fist pounding on the bathroom door snapped her out of it.</p><p>“Charlie! Hurry up, I need to pee!” Archie whined from the other side of the door, prompting an eye roll from his big sister although she did unlock the door nevertheless. “Finally!”</p><p>“All yours shorty!” Charlie said, messing up his hair as she walked out towards the kitchen, ignoring the complaints from her brother. Plopping down into one of the empty chairs, she felt her dad’s eyes on her. “What?” He just shook his head and let out a good natured huff.</p><p>“You two are a nightmare in the morning, you know that right?”</p><p>“Eh, we keep you on your toes.” The two shared a laugh as they tucked into their breakfasts. It wasn’t long before Archie joined them, pinching a piece of toast from his sister’s plate as he walked past, prompting an eye roll from their dad once again.</p><p>“Ugh, here we go again…”</p><hr/><p>The hallways of Moordale Secondary were pretty much deserted by the time Charlie emerged from Mr Groff's office, timetable and guitar case in hand. Even still, after dropping her guitar off in one of the music rooms, she managed to get turned around two or three times before she finally found herself outside her English classroom. Mercifully, the room was empty, save for a dark haired woman sat behind the desk at the front who was reading over notes in a planner.</p><p>“Hi, I’m looking for A-level English Language and Literature with Miss Sands?” Charlie asked, having already knocked quietly on the door frame.</p><p>“You’ve found it. You must be Charlie? I’m Miss Sands, welcome to Moordale! I have to say, I’m personally very excited to have you in my class – the work you did for your previous school’s newspaper was fantastic. The rest of your class will be here shortly but feel free to pick any seat before they arrive,” Miss Sands said, smiling warmly as she gestured to the many empty desks which filled up the room.</p><p>“Thanks, Miss.” Charlie decided on a desk which was tucked away in the back corner, placing her backpack underneath the seat and absentmindedly doodling on the black cover of her notebook while she waited for her classmates to arrive, not that she had to wait long. A couple of minutes later, the bell rang, and the once quiet corridors filled with people and commotion. Rowdy teens started to trickle into the classroom, claiming seats and barely paying attention to the stranger sitting in the back corner. ‘Thank God for that.’ It didn’t take long for the room to fill up and Charlie could feel relief settling in as the seat beside her remained vacant. Just as she was about to move her backpack onto the chair, a girl with blonde and pink hair made a beeline for her table, only to stop in apparent surprise at the sight of Charlie occupying half of the desk.</p><p>“Oh shoot, I’m sorry, is this your seat? Let me just-” Charlie begun to gather her stuff, mentally cursing herself in the process when the blonde spoke.</p><p>“You’re fine,” she grumbled, sitting down in the available seat, barely even tossing a glance in Charlie’s direction.</p><p>“Okaaaaaaaay then. I’m Charlie, today’s my first day.” There was no immediate response and Charlie started wishing the ground would just open up and swallow her whole. The blonde eventually looked away from the book she was reading, seemingly annoyed.</p><p>“Maeve.” Her tone made it obvious that the conversation wouldn’t continue so Charlie started taking notes on the lesson. She'd already studied 'As You Like It' at her old school but an easy pass is an easy pass so she wasn't about to say anything. What did make her stop - and her heart sink slightly - was that the project was a group project and as fate would have it, she'd be working with Maeve who seemingly hated her already. Resigned to doing the majority of the work, she was surprised when Maeve shouted out “boring!” in the middle of the lesson, clearly throwing Miss Sands off and, if the smirk on her face was anything to go by, the blonde enjoyed riling her teacher up a bit. The rest of the class passed without incident and soon they were packing up their stuff. Charlie was just about to slip off to her free period when Maeve's voice stopped her in her tracks. "So, just let me do the work and I'll stick your name on the presentation the night before. Sound good?"</p><p>"Erm, actually, I don't mind doing some of the work. How about we split it 50/50? I know the text pretty well so it shouldn't take long," Charlie just about managed to get out, confused that the blonde would be so happy to let her partner coast through without doing anything. Judging by the look on her face, Maeve was pretty confused as well.</p><p>"S-sure. Yeah, 50/50 then. How do you want to do this? Meet in the library or..?" </p><p>"I'm good with whatever, you could come over to mine tonight if-"</p><p>"Tainting the newbie already, cock-biter? I'd stay away from Wiley if I were you, new girl, don't know what you'll catch from her," said a sneering male voice from behind Maeve, followed by the sound of giggling.</p><p>"Piss off." "Fuck off, Anwar." Maeve and Charlie bit out at the same time, much to Maeve's surprise. The group moved off with a 'whatever', clearly annoyed that they didn't manage to get the newbie on their side. </p><p>"Thanks for that, but I don't need anyone sticking up for me."</p><p>"Didn't say you did, did I? He was just being a wanker." Charlie shrugged, before continuing, "so mine tonight? My dad's going to be picking me up later, but I can run you home once we're done."</p><p>"Eh, yeah, I guess that works." Another semi-awkward silence settled in briefly before Maeve spoke again. "Do you know how to play Scabby Queen?" </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. We do the best with what we have.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Just a very, very brief note to say that there is a homophobic slur in this chapter (not until the very end).</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Charlie let Maeve lead her through the school grounds with Maeve pointing out various people and places as they went. Soon they stopped in front of what was once a toilet block but was now in a state of serious disrepair. As Maeve fished around in her bag for something, Charlie couldn’t help but look around nervously, shifting from one foot to the other.</p><p>“Erm, what exactly are we doing here?” she asked, inspecting her purple Jordan 1s for any scuffs or dirt, scowling when she noticed a speck of muck.</p><p>“Told you, Scabby Queen. Why – you scared I’m going to jump you or something?” Maeve laughed but missed Charlie’s wince before she finally emerged from her bag, a deck of cards in one hand and a packet of cigarettes in the other. “You smoke?”</p><p>“Nah, I’m goo- pissing hell!” Charlie exclaimed as a pretty blonde girl seemingly appeared out of nowhere beside her.</p><p>“Finally! What took you so long? Aimee, Charlie – Charlie, Aimee.” Charlie smiled, giving Aimee a short wave after Maeve’s introductions.</p><p>“Oh, are you the new girl, the one from Australia?” Aimee asked as the trio made their way into the dilapidated building, dodging bits of wood and pipes that lay strewn across broken tiles as they went.</p><p>“I mean, not really? Like, I am new but I used to live in New Zealand, moved back to the UK about 4 years ago now.”</p><p>“I thought New Zealand was in Australia?” Charlie went to correct the girl but noticed a look of genuine confusion on her face so opted for a slightly nicer approach.</p><p>“Close – there’s some water between the two but loads of people get them confused all the time.” Aimee and Maeve then broke into gossiping conversation about school but not before Maeve shot Charlie an appreciative glance when Aimee wasn’t looking. Charlie watched on in amusement as Maeve explained the rules of Scabby Queen to a confused Aimee before giving up and dealing the cards anyway. It didn’t take long before the conversation turned back around to Charlie.</p><p>“So, what did you do in your last school – any clubs or shit?” Maeve asked, taking a draw of her cigarette and picking a card from Charlie’s hand before adding it to her own.</p><p>“Ah, not much really. I helped out with the school newspaper for a bit, was on the athletics team and played guitar in a band with some mates, but that was it really.”</p><p>“You guys any good?” Aimee asked as she took her turn.</p><p>“Not really, I guess,” chuckled Charlie before continuing, “we have some videos on YouTube and whatnot but it was the kind of typical thing – bunch of kids bored out of their tits who decided to record some shitty covers. Nothing was ever going to come of it but it was fun while it lasted.” Maeve went to reply but was cut off by the sound of the Game of Thrones theme coming from the pocket of Charlie’s ripped denim shorts which made her shoot up off of the wobbly stool she’d been perched on and begin gathering her stuff. “Ah, shit. I’m going to have to boost, try outs for the athletics team are in 20 minutes. Sorry guys, it was nice meeting you Aimee!”</p><p>“Nice to meet you too, good luck at your try out!”</p><p>“Thanks!” She started heading off towards the gym building but turned around and popped her head back in the doorway. “Meet you outside the English class after last class, Maeve?”</p><p>“Yeah, sure.” Maeve shrugged, puffing out some smoke.</p><p>“Awesome, I’ll see you later then!” And then she was off, leaving just Aimee and Maeve in the toilet block.</p><hr/><p>Charlie had just about managed to get changed and warmed up in time before the try outs started, running out on to the athletics track just as the two male teachers overseeing the try outs gathered everyone – about 60 people – together in front of a large portable white board. As they all shuffled in closer, she had a chance to scope out the potential competition. There were a few girls she’d competed against at the National Championship level but felt confident given that she’d beaten them any time they’d come up against each other.</p><p>“Good afternoon, lads and lasses. First off – thank you for your time today, for some of you it will be a waste of time but we appreciate it nonetheless. Now for those who have blissfully forgotten or are joining us for the first time, I’m Mr Gavin and this lanky sod beside me is Mr Welsh,” the stockier of the two men started, clasping a clipboard in his hands. “On that note, do we have anyone new joining us today?” A quiet murmur broke out as the students looked around for unfamiliar faces, but only Charlie and a handful of nervous looking kids raised their hands. “Ah, the great Charlie Haskins. The thorn in Moordale’s side for the past three years.” The group erupted into excited chatter while Charlie felt a blush appearing as more and more eyes ended up on her. “Welcome to Moordale, Miss Haskins. I can assure you, it won’t be a case of you waltzing onto this team, every place is earned and that goes for everyone. Is that understood?” Charlie couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she muttered the word ‘dickhead’ under her breath.</p><p>“Understood, Mr Gavin.”</p><p>“Excellent! Onto the nitty gritty then, Mr Welsh, take it away please!” The tall, but kind looking man stepped forward, gesturing to the whiteboard behind him which had all of the events laid out in a grid.</p><p>“Okay, as you’re all aware, athletics can be broken down into several events and that means putting you through your paces in each of them so we can find your best event. For the more senior students who have already been through this process, you’ll still be expected to put your all into every event.”</p><p>“Excuse me sir, but last year we only needed to try out for the events that we’re best at,” one of the older boys pointed out.</p><p>“Ah yes, excellent point Thomas! We, as training staff, have decided that we want you to all be as successful as possible this upcoming term and one way of doing that is multi-discipline events, where suitable. Now are there any other questions before we get started?” There were a few murmurs in the group of students but no one spoke up. “Excellent! Let’s get down to business then! First of all, line up in an orderly queue and we will give you a number…”</p><hr/><p>About two hours later, Charlie hunched over as she regained her breath. She’d just completed her final event – the 100m – and was feeling spent but good. Congratulating her competitors on a good race and try out, she headed over to the white board which was slowly being filled in with the top five finishers per event by Mr Welsh while Mr Gavin was off collecting rogue discuses and shots. She couldn’t help but smile, seeing ’33. C. Haskins’ in the top five for all but two of the girls events. More importantly to her, she finished first in her four best events – high jump, long jump, 100m hurdles and 200m. ‘Still got it Charls.’</p><p>“Pretty impressive, Haskins.” A boys voice from beside her made her jump out of her skin and nearly choke on the gulp of water she’d just taken. “Oh shit, sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you, I’m Jackson Marchetti, head boy.”</p><p>“Thanks, I suppose,” she replied once she stopped coughing. Looking at the board, she noticed that ’48. J. Marchetti’ appeared on a few of the top fives for the boys. “Pretty decent yourself.”</p><p>“He’s right you know, Charlie. What you did today was really quite special, have you ever given any thought to heptathlon?” Mr Welsh asked, looking over the grid again.</p><p>“Can’t say I have sir, I’m not sure it’s for me really.”</p><p>“Give it some consideration, Charlie. You posted really impressive numbers in your best events and with some slight adjustments, you’d easily place in the others.”</p><p>“I’ll think about it, but I’ll make no promises.” A beat and then, “so I guess I’m on the team then?”</p><p>“To be honest, Haskins, I’m pretty sure you could’ve made the team if you done the try out blindfolded,” the teacher replied, sharing a laugh with Charlie. “Now go shower and enjoy your lunch - you’ve earned it!”</p><p>“Thanks sir!” With that, Charlie headed into the changing room, barely paying attention to the small group of girls who were huddled around in a corner, giggling at something on one of their phones. It wasn’t until she pulled her sweat soaked t-shirt over her head, drawing a gasp from one of the girls that she looked up to see all of them gawking at her. “Problem?”</p><p>“Someone beat you up, golden girl? Must’ve gotten fed up of your massive ego,” a particular snobby looking girl snarked, gesturing to the bruises on Charlie’s stomach. The girls around her burst into giggles, making Charlie roll her eyes.</p><p>“Piss off,” she grumbled, gathering together the rest of her stuff to move to another changing room. A hand with red painted nails pushed her back down onto the wooden bench but soon was slapped away. “You don’t put your hands on me again, you hear me?”   </p><p>“I’d have thought you’d like having another girl’s hands on you… dyke.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. We're not models, we're not actors (I).</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter carries on from the last one so as with the previous chapter, there's a mention of a homophobic slur in here.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Maeve leaned back against the door of her English classroom as she waited for Charlie to appear in the slowly emptying corridor. After about 15 minutes passed, she rolled her eyes and pushed off of the wood, preparing to head home. Not that she’d admit it, but she couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed that Charlie seemed to have forgotten about her. Just as Maeve approached her locker, she heard a voice say ‘piss, fuck, shit!’ from behind her although she didn’t turn around until she heard the same voice calling out her name. When she did, she saw a disheveled Charlie running towards her, guitar case in one hand while the other fought to keep her All Blacks hat on her head as she bobbed and weaved between bemused teenagers. Finally, the out of breath girl came to a stop in front of Maeve who, by now, had schooled her face into a mask of indifference.</p><p>“Maeve! Thanks – oh, Christ, I’m fucked – thanks for waiting!” Charlie panted out, regaining her breath.</p><p>“You’re not supposed to run in the corridors,” said Maeve flatly, holding back a smirk when Charlie’s look of relief turned to confusion.</p><p>“Ah, yeah, of course, right.” Charlie fiddled with her backpacks awkwardly for a few seconds. “To the car park then? My dad should already be here.”</p><p>“You know what, I’m going to pass. This was stupid,” Maeve mumbled, turning around and beginning to walk away, prompting Charlie to half jog after her.</p><p>“Come on, I’m really sorry I’m late. I got held up in a stupid meeting with Mr Groff and some bitch from the athletics team then I had to go run and grab my guitar,” Charlie explained, cursing the stupid girl from earlier from potentially messing up her plans.</p><p>“It’s not that, honest, I’m just – well, I’m not really a partner work person, y’know?” Maeve half-heartedly shrugged, but Charlie was undeterred.</p><p>“Well, there’s no time like the present to start being a partner work person, right? We can drink and play Scabby Queen once we’re done?” Sensing that Maeve still wasn’t convinced, Charlie pulled out her trump card. “Look, I get it if you don’t want to work together but if you <span class="u">do</span> want to come over – and really it’s completely up to you – I’ve got all of my mum’s old shit in my room, there’s a really good recipe for brownies in there that I think you’d like but I’m not going to force you Maeve. I’ll see you later, yeah?” Charlie gave her a small smile and started walking to her locker. As she loaded her textbooks into her bag, she grinned when she heard Maeve sigh and walk towards her.</p><p>“Why are you so desperate to hang out with me?” asked Maeve in a slightly accusatory tone.</p><p>“Okay, complete honesty yeah?” Maeve nodded, rolling her eyes and gesturing in a ‘well, duh’ kind of fashion so Charlie continued, “I don’t have any friends here yet and you’ve been really cool to me so far so I don’t know, I guess I was hoping we could be friends.”</p><p>“Friends are over-rated.” Charlie felt her heart sink a little, feeling that she’d misread the situation completely and now Maeve was going to walk away. “Come on, we better not keep your dad waiting.” Charlie jumped into action, picking up her guitar and following behind Maeve who was making her way out of the building. They walked beside each other in quiet comfort – Maeve flipping off Anwar at one point after he made another rude comment to her as they walked past – until they reached the car park. “How come you knew I liked brownies?”</p><p>“Aimee – she mentioned it in French for some reason. Ah, my dad’s over there, the white Land Rover.” Charlie led the way over to the 1998 Land Rover Defender sat on the far side of the car park. As they approached the car, Charlie noticed her dad taking a nap in the driver’s seat. Gesturing to Maeve to stay hidden, she crept up to the side of the car before jumping up and slapping the window, laughing loudly as her dad sprang up in his seat, looking frantically around for the source of his fright, only to let out a loud exhale at the sight of his daughter doubled over in laughter. Even Maeve had a chuckle to herself as the brick shithouse of a man got out of the car and began reprimanding his daughter.</p><p>“Jeez, Charlie! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” He asked even as he picked up the guitar case and moved around to the back of the car to open the door.</p><p>“Sorry, Dad, just couldn’t resist. Oh, this is Maeve by the way, we’re partnered up to work on an English project together,” Charlie explained, climbing into the back of the vehicle and drawing the man’s attention to the blonde girl who waved a little awkwardly at him.</p><p>“Nice to meet you, Maeve. I’m Mike, that terror’s dad. Do you want a hand into the car?” He offered.</p><p>“I should be good, thanks. It’s nice to meet you too.” Maeve just about managed to pull herself into the back of the car, understanding why Mike had offered to help as it was a bit harder than it looked, and chose to sit diagonally across from Charlie who opted to stretch out her legs and put her feet up on the seat beside Maeve.</p><p>“Everyone buckled up?” Mike asked, waiting for affirmative responses before pulling out of the car park.</p><hr/><p>Maeve watched out the windows as they drove along unfamiliar back roads, in the opposite direction to the caravan park she called home, in peace and quiet. About twenty minutes into the drive, Mike broke the silence, clearing his throat before talking.</p><p>“So, I got an interesting call from Mr Groff while I was waiting for you Charls…” he trailed off as Charlie winced then sighed in her seat much to Maeve’s confusion.</p><p>“Can’t we talk about this later?” Charlie almost whined, clearly uncomfortable.</p><p>“I think you forget I’m your dad Charlie, if you don’t talk about it now, you’ll never talk about it. What happened?” Mike chose to ignore the ‘oh trust me, I can’t forget that’ which, while mumbled, everyone could still hear it. Maeve sat awkwardly in her seat, looking out the window and trying to give them the privacy for what obviously had the potential to be a tense conversation whilst internally kicking herself for leaving her earphones back at the caravan.</p><p>“She called me something stupid, I warned her not to, she did it again and got in my face so Isortofpunchedher,” Charlie said, also opting to look anywhere but at her dad.</p><p>“You wouldn’t just punch someone Charlie, what did she say?”</p><p>“Dad – drop it.” Charlie almost pleaded with him at this point.</p><p>“Charlie, just tell me what she said,” replied Mike with a softness in his voice that wasn’t there before. Maeve watched out of the corner of her eye as Charlie’s gaze dropped down to her hands where she played with her fingers and took several deep breath but didn’t say anything. After a couple of minutes, Charlie looked up and met Maeve’s gaze.</p><p>“I’m sorry,” mouthed Charlie, Maeve assumed she was apologizing for the tension which filled the car.</p><p>“It’s fine – you okay?” Maeve mimed back. The other girl took a shuddering breath before eventually nodding although Maeve wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince Maeve or herself.</p><p>“She called me a dyke, Dad.” Charlie rushed out, looking at her hands again. In the rear view mirror, Maeve saw Mike’s eyes widen and a look of sadness creep over his kind face before Charlie spoke again. “She said I was a dyke and disgusting, that I shouldn’t be allowed in a changing room with ‘real girls’ That’s when I punched her.” Her words hung in the air as the English country side flew past the windows.</p><p>“Thanks for telling me, Charls. You’re not in trouble, maybe just try not to punch her if there’s a next time yeah?” said Mike quietly, smiling at his daughter through the rear view mirror.</p><p>“I love you, Dad.”</p><p>“Love you too, Charls.”</p><hr/><p>The rest of the car ride passed in comfortable quiet – the radio filling the space that the previous conversation had left – and it wasn’t long before the car came to a stop in front of a huge, modern sandstone house which was well hidden amongst the trees. Maeve could almost feel her jaw drop as she looked around, trying to take in every part of the beautiful grounds and building that she could see. She also noticed Charlie and her dad sharing a tight hug before Mike disappeared inside the house with Charlie’s guitar case.</p><p>“Nice house,” she commented, heading inside with Charlie and shrugging off her jacket.</p><p>“Thanks! I know it’s, like, a lot but Dad says we’ve earned after the last few years so…” Charlie trailed off, not elaborating on her last comment. “I’ll give you a quick tour of the place before we get to work. It’s cool if we work in my room, right? Like you’re not worried I’m going to try feeling you up or anything now that, well, you know?”</p><p>“Nah, we’re cool. I’m sorry by the way, that that happened at school.” Maeve offered as Charlie started to lead her through the house.</p><p>“It’s not your fault, dumb bitch was mad that I kicked her arse in the athletics try outs and went for an easy target.”</p><p>They started in the living room which had a massive wall mounted TV, a modern fireplace flanked by two massive bookcases where several spines of books caught the blonde’s attention and a huge corner sofa as well as an armchair with a dog bed on either side, although no signs of the canine occupants of the house. Then they moved onto the kitchen which was open and homely feeling with gorgeous marble worktops, a large dining table and lots of artwork. There were a set of French doors which, Charlie told her, opened up into the garden where Maeve guessed the dogs were if the barking was anything to go by. Next came Mike’s office which was modern but comfy with a door leading directly into the man’s bedroom.</p><p>“And this – this is my room,” said Charlie, opening up the room door and ushering Maeve into her bedroom. Three of the walls were painted white but mostly covered with photographs and vinyl records whilst the one which Charlie’s bed was pushed up against had an exposed brickwork effect. In one corner sat a huge cactus as well as a hat stand with all but one position filled with caps or beanies of some description. There were old or repurposed items everywhere – a brass telescope on her desk, an old spotlight in the corner, a rickety looking wooden ladder leaned against the wall next to a clothing rail that looked like it’d been taken straight out of a clothing shop. There were few hints of modernity like the iMac and Bluetooth speaker which sat next to the telescope and the MacBook Air which lay on top of the comfy looking bed.</p><p>Somehow, even though they’d known each other for less than 24 hours, the room felt, to Maeve, like Charlie.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This felt like the most natural place to end this chapter. Next time is part 2 where the girls play more Scabby Queen, talk about music and bake brownies - sounds like a good time, am I right? Really stretching episode 1 out! </p><p>In all seriousness, thank you so much for reading this story! Please leave a comment (and kudos if you really fancy it!), it really does mean a lot. I'm currently working some weird af shifts at the moment so updates may be slightly less frequent than previously - the joys of working for a company that helps make COVID testing kits ((((: </p><p>Stay safe!</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi all! Hope you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a comment below if you did (or didn't). All feedback is welcome and appreciated!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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